Indiana PERF Opens New Customer Service Center

April 19, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The embattled
Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund (PERF) has opened
up a new downtown Indianapolis service center as the fund
tries to change its image from besieged entity to
professional organization.

PERF is opening a $2 million customer service center to
better assist the more t
han 200,000 state and local government workers and
retirees who are beneficiaries of the $10.5 billion
retirement fund. The fund pays out $35 million in
retirement benefits each month, according to an
Indianapolis Star report.

The new center allows pensioners to walk in and meet
with one of a dozen retirement counselors, who can help
them make decisions about their pensions. They can also get
help here if they are having trouble getting retirement
benefits.
To help finance the new center, PERF is selling the
building next door, which has been appraised at $1.3
million.

In addition to the fresh coat of paint the service
center got
a new, stately logo with a Greek pillar standing by
the words: “PERF Indiana.” They’ve adopted a motto: Funding
your future.
This was all part of a $95,000 public relations
campaign kicked off by PERF to launch the new customer
service center and redesign its logo and Internet site in
an effort to revamp the fund’s image.

The road to recovery may be a long one.
In the past couple of years, PERF has seen a former
executive put behind bars and two former employees
implicated in separate crimes
.
As December 2003 drew to a close, the fund’s former
chief benefits officer (CBO), Walter Kevin Scott was
sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzling more than
$600,000 from a former employer and misusing another
person’s Social Security number (See
Former PERF CBO Scott Gets 10 Years Behind
Bars
).

Prior to Scott’s conviction and sentencing,Shaunna Stone pleaded guilty to a single count of
bank fraud and 13 counts of misusing the Social Security
numbers of other people. Additionally, Stone
admitted stealing $22,586 and seven identities from the
fund (See
Former Indiana Pension Worker Pleads
Guilty to Fraud Charges
). Stone had previously worked in the same benefits
department headed by Scott.

At around the same time, a federal indictment was
handed down against another former PERF employee, James
Spaulding, for allegedly leading an eight-person
conspiracy to steal $226,873 from the fund, which
ultimately led to his arrest in August (See
Accused PERF Fraud Perpetrator Ordered
To Jail Until Trial
). The theft was orchestrated during Spaulding’s
temporary employment for the fund from January 2002 to
July 2002, where the accusation of altering members’
accounts and causing checks to be cut from the fund in
the names of his friends arose.